Grapevine

Plucking fruits from the cultural bush

Rumours of his retirement from the rap game have clearly been exaggerated as Eminem has begun on a new D12 album. Plus, Mr Mathers has a new mixtape entitled Eminem Presents: The Re-Up, due out in December, containing six marvellous new tunes . . . Jake Gyllenhaal has joined the cast of Rendition alongside Reese Witherspoon. He plays a CIA analyst based in Cairo whose world crashes out of control after he witnesses the interrogation of a foreign national by the Egyptian secret police. Reese plays the pregnant American wife of said tortured guy . . . American TV execs are clearly desperate for a show to be dubbed ‘the next Prison Break’ as Donnie Wahlberg stars in upcoming drama Runaway about a chap who is falsely accused of a nasty crime and has to clear his name, bladdy blah etc . . . Hot cheeks George Clooney is to direct and star in a new romantic comedy about American football, of all things. Renée Zellweger is in talks to co-star in Leatherhead, set at the time of the sport’s formation in the 1920s . . . Catherine Tate has nabbed her first headline role in a movie, playing a real-life Cold War heroine. Mrs Ratcliffe’s Revolution features a mother who uprooted her family from Bolton to East Germany during the 1960s . . . Her fellow British comic Johnny Vegas is sticking to the small screen. Benidorm will be ITV’s latest attempt at producing anything remotely funny and with co-stars such as Nicholas Burns (Nathan Barley) and Steve Pemberton (League of Gentlemen), it certainly sounds promising.